I planted about 10 Scots Pines about 4 years ago (1ft high bare root) ...
they are now about 4ft high and were doing OK ....

About 10 days ago I noticed that the needles on one of them were going
yellow - mainly the needles on the main trunk. If I touch these, they fall
off. Some of the branches have this too, not at the tips, but nearer the
trunk.

Same thing has now appeared on another 4 of them and, today, I noticed
something similar on a big pine tree I have (dont know which type).

The needles hae never gone yellow on any of them before.

Any ideas what it could be - is it

a) natural ... but something that doesn't happen every year (maybe brought
on by bad weather ? or very long growing season ?)
b) a pest of some sort ?
c) something else ? ?

Has anyone else noticed anything similar this year ?

I was trying to create a mixed native shelter belt for my house so hope they
don't die ...

Cheers,

Richard

Aberdeenshire,
Scotland.

Tugger writes
I planted about 10 Scots Pines about 4 years ago (1ft high bare root) ...
they are now about 4ft high and were doing OK ....

About 10 days ago I noticed that the needles on one of them were going
yellow - mainly the needles on the main trunk. If I touch these, they fall
off. Some of the branches have this too, not at the tips, but nearer the
trunk.

Same thing has now appeared on another 4 of them and, today, I noticed
something similar on a big pine tree I have (dont know which type).

The needles hae never gone yellow on any of them before.

Any ideas what it could be - is it

a) natural ... but something that doesn't happen every year (maybe brought
on by bad weather ? or very long growing season ?)
b) a pest of some sort ?
c) something else ? ?

Has anyone else noticed anything similar this year ?

I was trying to create a mixed native shelter belt for my house so hope they
don't die ...

If it's not too many of them it's probably natural. 'Evergreen' doesn't
mean the leaves sty on for ever, just that they fall off throughout the
year rather than all at once. The needles on and near the trunk will be
the oldest and will fall off first.

Other thing that springs to mind is drought - even though we've had the
wettest summer ever, it has been quite dry in recent weeks.
--
Kay

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:15:25 +0100, "Tugger" wrote:

Any ideas what it could be - is it


d) They're ****ed!

"Tugger" wrote...
I planted about 10 Scots Pines about 4 years ago (1ft high bare root) ...
they are now about 4ft high and were doing OK ....

About 10 days ago I noticed that the needles on one of them were going
yellow - mainly the needles on the main trunk. If I touch these, they fall
off. Some of the branches have this too, not at the tips, but nearer the
trunk.

Same thing has now appeared on another 4 of them and, today, I noticed
something similar on a big pine tree I have (dont know which type).

The needles hae never gone yellow on any of them before.

Any ideas what it could be - is it

a) natural ... but something that doesn't happen every year (maybe brought
on by bad weather ? or very long growing season ?)
b) a pest of some sort ?
c) something else ? ?

Has anyone else noticed anything similar this year ?

I was trying to create a mixed native shelter belt for my house so hope
they don't die ...

My first thought was "pines do that". When have you seen a big specimen with
needles on it's trunk or branches. Certainly my Bristlecone does this, every
year the oldest needles go brown and drop off leaving a bit more bare
branch.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK